Nick Bishop’s recent article provided insightful analysis about the “Australian way” of multi-phase attack.
The challenges that Dave Rennie’s team faced in the recent Test series against England, having the ball pinched after multiple phases of possession, aren’t new.
The All Blacks have been roasting the Wallabies with counter-attacking rugby off the turnover for a long time now.
England may not have had the class in their backline to beat the Wallabies with great counter attacks, but they still beat us with penalty kicks.
To work out why, I reviewed every Wallabies try of the series.
Only Pete Samu’s try in the first Test qualified as a try where phases got into double numbers, from a significant distance away from the English try line.
What defined that try was that the Wallabies backs beat the first English defender and made significant metres early in the attacking sequence, quickly taking the Wallabies close to the opponent’s try line to grind out the eventual five-pointer.
Every other try was either a running try that was finished off in no more than a couple of phases, a rolling maul or started off close the English line, and was ground out by the forwards before crossing. These are all instances where running away from support is not an issue.
This pointed to the Wallabies style of trying to use “running rugby” to “build pressure” across many phases from anywhere on the park, doesn’t work against modern rugby defences.
Nick Bishop’s description of the relatively uncontested rucks back in the early 2000s confirms where the source of the problem might lie, in historical bias towards “Australian running rugby”.
I also wonder whether a nation steeped in rugby league might have a bias towards multiple “hit-ups”. That doesn’t work in the code where the ball is contested.
The number of times I hear Aussie rugby fans bleating when the ball is kicked is perhaps symptomatic of how biases from the 13-man game might be negatively affecting Australia’s collective IQ on how to win the 15-man version.
I have seen on multiple occasions that if an Australian forward gets the ball in the fourth phase or later, it becomes much more likely that he will become isolated and have the ball taken.
Taniela Tupou (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Perhaps the Wallabies need to adopt the rule that if the forwards have not created good opportunities for the backs within three phases, that the ball is kicked.
Even a simple long grubber to the opposition corner will force the opposition to take a lineout and make a clearing kick to touch, providing at least two opportunities to get the ball and attack again.
Finally, I wonder if the Wallabies might have been drawn into the game that England wanted by Eddie Jones, who knows the Australian game intimately?
As Nick highlights in his article, Dave Rennie said that the Wallabies were planning on kicking in the wide channels but found space there, so kept attacking.
Michael Hooper said that he thought there was some space and that if they could get “one or two more phases”, they could “cut them up”.
It is understandable to try that once, but surely if it doesn’t work, the possibility that the opposition are using a planned tactic should become apparent?
Other aspects of Hooper’s decision-making, mainly his propensity to turn down kickable penalty conversions for attacking lineouts, suggest that he has a bias towards going for decisive, high-risk try-scoring plays.
This is unsurprising considering that he has been coached by Michael Chieka for most of his career, with the former Wallabies coach who was a Randwick player and rugby league enthusiast definitely promoting that style of play for the Wallabies.
It isn’t hard to see Jones laid a trap for the Wallabies in the third Test, instructing his men to leave space out wide to take advantage of Hooper’s known bias, drawing the Wallabies into playing to England’s defensive advantages.
If it was intentional, it worked, and suggests that while the old phrase by Sun Tzu to “know your enemy and know yourself” has been said often enough to have become cliched, this is only so because it is true.
Whether the biases Hooper has had coached into him are holding him back from being the captain that he can be for Australia is something that the man himself needs to reflect on for a greater degree of self-knowledge, if the Wallabies are to be real contenders in the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Olly
Roar Rookie
Rhys, the Wallabies are absolutely suckers for fools gold space out wide and Eddie knows this as did France last year. Nice looping cutout pass to an isolated player is part of the 101 play book against the Wallabies...ask the ABs, they know this one. They even like to leave some space for that highly rated Wallabies short kicking game :laughing:
Olly
Roar Rookie
'And to suggest Jones would have left gaps out wide to “ sucker” the Wallabies is a bit fanciful.' This is not a new play and has been used against the Wallabies many times as we fall into the trap of going side to side with our cutout pass getting turned over easily. France did it to us last year in the 3 game series and the ABs don't mind showing us a bit of space out wide for the long ball. Nothing better then turning us over out wide all game....France even ran a flanker at centre for us and even then the Wallabies still walked into it....
Olly
Roar Rookie
Ok your comment has freaked me out, are we somehow long lost relatives!!!! My friend pointed out your comment to me and it is basically exactly what I said to him particularly around the coaches, disconnected playing styles and Jake White who built the fundamentals still used by the Brumbies today.
Rhys Bosley
Roar Pro
I don’t agree that Australian players can’t learn discipline and kicking ability, but if you are correct then we are wasting out time talking about it, because those characteristics are necessary to win in the modern game.
Rhys Bosley
Roar Pro
But as revealed by Rennie and Hooper's comments, the game plan was for the Wallabies to kick into the wide channels, but instead Hooper told the team to keep attacking. There is no evidence that Rennie told Hooper to change the game plan, so it really is on him.
Rhys Bosley
Roar Pro
I understand how different defensive systems are used at different times in the game. However, that doesn’t preclude Jones saying “if you get the opportunity to soak up the Wallabies tackles a phase or two longer than usual do so, because Hooper will tell them to keep running it and then we will pick them off”. Remember that this is professional rugby at the highest level, the coaching teams analyse the opposition for every advantage and have players who can pull it off, it isn’t just a matter of drilling a routine response like it may be at lower levels.
JC
Roar Rookie
Not disagreeing that sometimes the Wallabies need to mix it up more, RB, but perpetuating the myth that Hooper's a poor decision-maker simply because he expressed support for the game plan is regrettable. And it must have been the game plan because they were attacking the wide channels from early on -- and they did find space there. They just didn't finish well.
Andy Thompson
Roar Pro
Political pick? :laughing:
numpty
Roar Rookie
They turned down those 3s but did they fail to score? one in Brisbane I remember they stuffed up the lineout but still scored a try in that same passage a short time later as a result of the territory. Saffa tactics work for them, but I don't think Aus players can or want to play that way. They don't have the discipline and too few have the kicking game to execute it in my opinion. But I agree with the critique that Aus are currently playing too much rugby and should look to kick more/smarter.
scrum
Roar Rookie
Ok to explain further, rush defence is commonly employed when numbers are even or when the defence are in a position to shut down the attacking movement before it gets to the edges. “ Sitting back “ is employed say after quick ball or when your defence is not in a position to employ rush defence. Its an effective method of countering lack of numbers in defence when you are initially not in position to shut down the attack. It is used in every match by every team, not peculiar to the England match at all. To suggest it was a ruse by Jones to con the Aussies lacks credibility.
Rhys Bosley
Roar Pro
There are multiple options, a defending team might defend aggressively to shut down a raid early or they might soak, that a smart coach would tailor those decisions to the known biases of his opponent isn't especially controversial.
scrum
Roar Rookie
“ Sitting back” is standard defence when the attack has superior numbers. This is no special or unusual form of defence, seen regularly in every match
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Yes I concur that the franchises play a noticeably different style to The Boks . Less fear of losing I think is the mantra here . Makes it super difficult to select players though . An example is Evan Roos . Thriving with ball in hand for The Stormers . For the Boks has to play a totally different game . So when selected he becomes nothing more than a Rassie/Jacques experiment . A trial player despite his dominance over all in the URC . That widening gap in approach between domestic and international rugby is going to hurt the Boks .. it’s already a problem . Cheers .
Biltong
Guest
I think test rugby is a different beast. It is also pertinent to acknowledge our franchises don't play the same style of rugby, and some don't follow Nienaber's game philosophy. So very hard to correlate test rugby with club. The big issue as far as errors being punished is true, the space and time in trst rugby is much more challenging to deal with
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Sure , Stats in isolation can obviously just as easily distort rather than enhance reality .. But for me a +70% win ratio of teams who put ball to foot more often as opposed to those passing or off loading cannot be ignored . Also I wonder if those stats would remain consistent in say Superugby or The URC / Premier League /Top 14 or is Test Rugby by definition more unforgiving of errors therefore a lower risk territorial approach more important ?
Tim J
Roar Rookie
JN, Ellis Park will be buzzing for sure. Enjoy it mate, wish I could be there.. :thumbup:
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Yeah MK think so , I will be at Ellis Park . I live fairly close by .Don’t have a ticket but my nephew assured me he is organizing. Mbombela Stadium would require a couple of hours drive and an overnight . So I’ll watch at home .
Guess
Roar Rookie
Yep I thought it's a well known fact
Biltong
Guest
An analysis done a number of years agosuggested the more phases you play successively the lower the return to score is. I think that is wherethe SA tactics came from. I cannot tell you where or who did the analysis, but maybe Nicholas will know.
Guess
Roar Rookie
What’s so unusual about siting back? It’s typical for England. They can’t play any other way